Battle at the Alamo!

A swing brought to you by San Antonio College and Tyler Junior College

Dear Colleagues:

San Antonio College and Tyler Junior College invite you to the Battle at the Alamo, October 18-20, 2024. Both tournaments will be held on the San Antonio College Campus.  Tournament staff will use SpeechWire for registration, tournament tabulation and ballot distribution. Competition rooms will be held mainly in McCreless Hall (MCCH)---more information to come closer to the competition. Please see the map at the bottom of the invite for more information. The swing is open to all intercollegiate competitors. The tournament will offer NPDA and IPDA, in addition to all 11 AFA-NST individual events. 

On Friday, 4 or 5 rounds of NPDA debate will be offered with quarters (or semis) on Friday as well.  Semis (or finals) will be held on Saturday (Semis and Finals may be conducted on Friday depending on the W-L records on the break). There will be only one division offered.  We will follow all NPDA rules and procedures.  Additionally,4 rounds of IPDA will be offered on Saturday.  Competitors in IPDA will not be able to cross enter in individual events on Saturday.  We will follow all Phi Rho Pi IPDA rules and procedures.  Saturday and Sunday will each be a self-contained IE tournament, with all 11 AFA-NST Individual Events.  There will be only one division offered.  We will follow all AFA rules.  No prepared event may have been used in competition prior to this academic year.

ENTRIES: Entries will be registered through SpeechWire.  Fees will be calculated at 12:00pm on Tuesday October 15th.  Adds or drops after 5:00pm on Wednesday October 16th are subject to regular fees as assessed on the 16^th plus a nuisance fee of $10. There is no limit on the number of students a school may enter per event. Students may enter no more than three events per pattern. Students entered in multiple events are responsible for shifting between events within the prescribed time allotments, and judges will not wait past the scheduled times for students who are delayed due to being cross entered.

JUDGES: We ask that schools work as hard as they can to provide exceptional judges to cover their events.  One judge can cover four (4) individual events slots per pattern for a total of 8 slots across the two patterns. Each debate judge covers two (2) Parli debate teams or two (2) IPDA entries.  A very limited number of hired judges will be available for uncovered slots/teams. Note: A judge cannot be counted for both IPDA and Individual Events. For the Saturday portion of the swing, please designate your judges as either an individual event judge or an IPDA judge.  The tournament reserves the right to place judges in events they have not been designated to judge in order for the tournament to run on time. NPDA judges are obligated for one round beyond their team’s eliminations.  For all other events, judges are obligated through the end of the tournament on each day.

FEES: Debate entry fees for the tournament are $50 entry.  Debate judging fees are $75.00 per uncovered team.  One judge covers two debate entries.  IE entry fees for the tournament are $10.00 per slot per half. Each judge, as previously mentioned, covers four (4) individual event slots per pattern. Hired judges are an additional $15.00 per uncovered slot. Schools which drop judges after Wednesday October 16th at 5:00 PM will incur a $100.00 nuisance fee plus all fees for uncovered slots/teams.  Cash is the vastly preferred for payment of fees.  If you must pay by check, please make checks for both halves of the tournament payable to M’Liss S. Hindman. Zelle, Venmo, and CashApp payments are accepted.  Email mhin@tjc.edu for usernames.  

FOOD: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday there are plenty of fast food options around the campus (Bill Millers, Whataburger, Starbucks, PhiloCoffee, Jimmy Johns, Subway, and many more. In the evenings, the campus is extremely close to the Pearl, Downtown San Antonio, and Southtown for eating and shopping.

We look forward to seeing you here in San Antonio in October!

Respectfully,

Justin Blacklock
Director of Forensics
San Antonio College

M’Liss S. Hindman

Director of Forensics

Tyler Junior College